Method of making cartridge cases and the like



S. A. SNELL March 20, 1945.

METHOD oF MAKING CARTRIDGE cAsEs"AND THE LIKE 3 Shee'cs--Sheetv 3 Filed Sept. 25, 1941 Aid -w -mm -m -mm ld QQ M n un* I i rvu Q/YVbO/b Emmi., A- ENELL Patented Mar. 20, 1945 i I UNITI-:D p STATES PATENT-,- OFFICE METHOD oF Mniizfliin'rmnon cnsEs ANDTHE SamuelfA. Snell, Jackson, Mich., assignor,` `by` 4 vmesne assignments, to Ryerson & Haynes, Inc.,

Jackson, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application september 25, 1941, serial No. 412,250 1 claim. `(c1. zza-1.3)`

The present invention relates to'improvements in methods of fabricating elongated hollow metallic objects, being particularly. concerned with the making of cartridge cases and the like.

n Prior to the present invention it was' the established` practice in the making of cartridge cases CII and similar objects to fabricate the work blank from sheet stock, and thereafter by a succession of cupping, drawing and annealing operations to form the work blank into an elongated hollow case. It is hereby proposed to change this method of procedure in several respects. One

proposal resides in cutting the work blank froml bar stock. Another resides in subjecting the work blank to one or more extruding operations to partially form the hollow case, and then vcomplete the elongation of the case by drawing. A furtherproposal resides in reshaping the work blank cut from the bar stock to obtain a form facilitating the extruding operation to follow.` A still further proposal resides in cutting the Work blank from bar stock and reshaping into a flattened diSc to reduce scrap toa minimum` While certain of herein' disclosed methods donot exclude therefrom the use of work blanks punched yfrom sheet stock, or obtained in anyother' suit" able manner, the cutting of the work blank from bar stock has the advantage of materially reducing the amount of scrap. Also, the step of extruding `the work blank to cup shape in lieu of drawing the same into such shape has been found to materially reduce the annealing and drawing operations that would otherwise be required. Preferably the work blank is cut from extruded and/or drawn bar stock.

In the drawings the principles of the present invention have beenjdiagrammatically illustrated by depicting to various degrees the steps involved in several proposed commercial methods involving the principles of the present invention. It will be, of course, understood that the steps set forth with respect to specific order and'number are for the purpose of illustration and are not intended to restrict the principles of the invention thereto. y

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of the steps in one commercial form of the invention using cylindrical bar stock,

Fig. 2 is a, view similar to Fig. 1 of a modified form of the invention,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of the first three operations of a still further modified form of the invention, in whichv the work piece has been shaped to facilitate extrusion,

Fig. 4 is afragmentaryY planned view of one form of die for shaping the work piece,

Fig. 5 is a perspective `view of a length of bar` l stock from whichthe work pieces are sheared, and

Fig. `6 is a view similar to Fig. lof a still further modied form ofthe invention. i For convenience of disclosure, the principles of the invention are hereinafter described in connection with the manufacture of brass cartridge' cases; Theillustrated operations of the drawings have specific reference to cartridge cases for a 20 millimeter shell of brass, having approximately copper and 30% zinc less impurities. While it is true that the present methods were specifically developed in connection with the manufacture of cartridge cases,it is not considered that the principles of the invention should be s o limited, and it is the intention to include the appli- :ation thereof to other materials and devices.

Referring to the series of operations` diagrammatically set forth under Fig. l, the work blank l 0 has been preferablyl sheared or sawed from an extruded bar stock having a cross section corre'- sponding to that of the work blank. In practice the bar stock and resulting blank I0 may `be circular, polygonal, or any other cross section in which bar stock is conventionally produced. Circular bar stock has theadvantage of providing a work blank which may require slightly less trim- `ming following the final drawing operation than As diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. ,1, the

rst operation consists in the step of cutting or shearing the work blank from bar stock to produce the Work blank lll. For the second operation the work blank Il) is flattened to provide a uniform shape. To facilitate shearing or cutting, the work blank should be harder than desirable for extruding and `drawing operations, thus the third operation is one of annealing. The flat blank I0 is then put into a press and subjected to the fourth operation, which is an extruding operation performed in a male and female die. In the illustration of Fig. 1, the work blank I0 is shown in cross section following the a astanti operation of Fig. 1.A

to provide the angular portion has been found to facilitate the extrusion operation. The fifth operation is a restrike operation in a different set of dies, reshaping the faces I8 and 20 to approximately finished dimension and shape. It is also realized that during the extruding operation the entire work blank is under compression and there is not the tendency for themetal to tear as in the case of a drawing operation in which the metal flow is brought about by tensile stress.

The sixth to eighth operations, comprising washing, annealing, pickling, and the intermediate and following drawing operations, bringithe case to the desired length prior to trimming. The tenth to sixteenth operations inclusive, as

shown in Fig. 1, are conventionalamilfornrnov part of the present invention. The nature of' these operations is thought toi-'clearly appear cavity 32.` This is the first stage of the third operation of which there are three stages, the second and thirdstages vcorresponding to the fourth and fifth operations of Fig. l. In other words, the cylindrical Work blank 28 is flattened and made hexagon, extruded and restruck to shapen the same, in three different stages carried out on three different setsof dies. These stages have been grouped as the third operation for the rea- .son that they are all carried out on the same machine by being indexed from one station to another.

As shown in Fig. 3, at the time the work piece `2B is restruck as part of the third operation, the lower end of the Work piece 28 is preferably extruded to form the cylindrical portion 29. Preferably the diameter of the cylindrical portion 29 i isonly slightly larger than the finished diameter 'ing the portion 29fdownto finished size.

been made possiblerthrough the use yof bar: stock and the extruding step disclosed.

In Fig. Z'is shown a further simplification of the method of Fig. 1. By comparing Figs. l'andz itwi'll be noted that the annealing steps between the attening and extruding operations-have been omitted. Also, the extruding dies for thethird operation havebeen shaped to bring the surfaces 22 Iand'24l of thehwork blank 26 toapproximately finished dimension andshape without therestrike Therernaining operations of Fig. 2 correspond'tothose of Fig, 1. In, practice it hasvbeen foundthat this reduction. in operation-:maybe taken and yet obtainsatisfactory results. However, more force may be requiredto extrude the work blank of ythe method ofFig. 2.

.For the reason that cylindrical barv stock is less expensive, for example, than hexagon .bar stock, there is anadvantage in substituting the operationsof Fig. -3for the firstve operations of-Fi-g. 1. This advantage is found in the fact thatwthe hexagonal work blank may bel more readily .extruded by the dies than a cylindrical work blank, as there is less frictionbetweenthework blank and the female die. .As shown-:in Fig.f3, work vblank :28 isshovvn` afterthe first-.operation ascut from cylindrical bar stock (thework blank 28 being shown inperspective).y .Followingthe annealing at the. second operation, the cylindrical work blank 28 is placed in'a female die '30 of' 4 having a cavity 3'2 of hexagonal shape and flattened and shaped to the hexagonform of the of the head of the cartridge case, with the result that the subsequent drawing operations do not result in `any further working of the cylindrical portion 29, except for the final operation bring- This practice avoids Working of the thick and lheavy endportion of the .work rpiece during eachof the subsequent drawing operations.

IEig. 5 shows in perspective. a bar 30 from which the Work-blanks Il), :26, and 28 are cut or sheared along the dotted 'lines 32. It should be appreciated thattby shearing the work blank from a bar stockno-scrap results.

In Fig. v6, one of the features of the present invention is shown adapted to the conventional practice of drawing the cartridge case from a relatively thin disc punched from sheet-stock. In lieu of Y.punching the work blank from sheet stock, the work blank 34 has been cutor'sheared fromibarstock as the first operation. Following annealing, the Workblank 34`is then flattened into the disc of the third operation.` The fifth operation-is a 'cupping operation making'the disc cup shape. Subsequent drawing operations, of which only the seventh and ninth have been i1- lustrated, complete the elongation of the case.

- Theintermediate annealing operations have not been illustrated in Fig. 6.

Having thus described my invention, what I desireto secure by LettersrPatent and claim is:

As steps inthe manufacture of cartridge cases andother thinwall parts, comprising forming a work blank from cylindrical bar stock, reshaping said Awork blank into generally polygonal shape,- extruding said polygonal shaped work blank into an elongated generally cylindrical casine, and thereafter drawing said .casing to desired wall thickness.

`SAMUEL A. SNELL. 

